Bank Shot

Mystery and thriller · Comedy · Farce

First published: 1972
Print length: 224 pagesSimon and Schuster, 1972

Description

Al Karp sees opportunity in a bank temporarily housed inside a mobile home, but its guarded safe, security staff, and awkward escape route defeat every conventional robbery plan. He arranges the escape of his reluctant former partner Walter Ballantine, hoping the experienced thief can solve the problem. Ballantine’s answer is audaciously literal: attach tractor wheels to the structure and steal the entire bank. Once the crew puts the scheme in motion, moving the building becomes only the beginning; they must transport it through public streets, hide it, and stay ahead of the police pursuit organized by Warden Streiger and an FBI associate. The result is a comic heist built around ingenuity, logistical chaos, and the widening gap between an elegant plan and its unruly execution.

Reading profile

About this profile

Collected’s assessment, not reader ratings. Complexity runs from 1 (least demanding) to 5 (most demanding).

Writing: How much attention the sentences and language require.
Ideas: How much interpretation or abstract reasoning the book asks of you.
Structure: How much you need to keep track of speakers, timelines and connections.
Background knowledge: Prior knowledge needed to follow the book, beyond what it explains.
Emotional intensity: Emotional pressure, from gentle (1) to intense (5). Separate from difficulty.

Writing style

Conversational · Dialogue-driven · Direct · Witty

Pace

Brisk

Tone

Humorous · Irreverent · Playful · Suspenseful

Structure

Linear

Focus

Character · Plot · Relationships

Emotional intensity

2 / 5

Reading complexity

1–5 · higher means more demanding

Writing: 2 / 5
Ideas: 2 / 5
Structure: 2 / 5
Background knowledge: 1 / 5

Themes

AmbitionCrime and punishmentFriendshipWork

About Donald E. Westlake

Donald E. Westlake was a prolific American novelist who specialized in crime fiction, especially comic capers, while also working in science fiction and nonfiction. His plots often begin with professional planning: routes are studied, crews assembled, weaknesses identified, and institutions treated as systems that can be manipulated. He developed this method in two sharply different registers. Under the name Richard Stark, he wrote the Parker novels in spare, direct prose, following a relentless thief through robberies shaped by preparation, mistrust, and sudden violence. The Outfit expands Parker’s methods into a campaign against organized crime. The John Dortmunder books turn comparable ingenuity toward farce. In The Hot Rock, a carefully arranged jewel theft becomes a chain of recoveries, disguises, and improvised new schemes. Westlake also applied his controlled plotting and bleak humor beyond the series. The Ax follows an unemployed manager who treats rival job applicants as obstacles to be eliminated, using the language and logic of corporate competition to chart his moral collapse.